Cotton-gin.



PATENTED APR. 2. 1907.

S.B.LADD.

COTTON GIN.

APPLIGATION FILED JUNE 10, 1903.

M r/vts SE 8.-

' typesthe saw-gin and the roller-gin.

TED STATES PATN FFTC.

STORY B. LADD, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT or COLUMBIA.

COTTON-GIN. i

No. saenel.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented April 2, 1907.

Application filed June 10. 19Q3. Serial No.160.84=7.

ington, in the District of Columbia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cotton-Gins, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of cotton-gins in which the fibers are caught by or held to a moving surface to efiect separation from a mass of fiber or from the seedas, for example, in the roller cotton-gin. I

The invention is specially applicable to gins for ginning seed-cotton; but it is to be distinctly understood that its ap lication to the treatment of cotton, Woo or other fibrous material in the process of' icking, carding, or otherwise-manipulating t e same is within the scope of this invention. With this understanding it will be described in the embodiment of a cotton-gin of the roller t e. The cotton-gins in. general use are of ji vlv1o e former has large capacity, but it breaks the cottonand does not give full length of fiber. The roller-gin, on the other hand, gives full length of fiber, but its present capacit lS small, and it can only be used on long-fiber cotton, such as sea-island cotton.

Considerable invention has beenexercised in the construction of a gin-roller which will.

a surface of leather or lastic V composition. In all cases, however, t e aim has een to provide a moving surface which shall have a friction hold on the cotton, or the hold due to the minute projecting points or hooks or a rough surface. It will readily be seen that in all these cases the hold of'the roller can only reach to the fibers in contact with its surface, to those in engagement with its rough or studded periphery, either directly or by being intermeshed with such fibers.

The present invention employs a radically different principle. It emp oys suction created and maintained through the roller periphe to draw the cotton to and hold it on the ro er.- A suction process is capable of wires or. bristles projecting control and regulation, and the grip can be gaged to meet the requirements of thecase. The ginned cotton is blown from the roller'by an air-blast outward through the roller eriphery, the suction on one side of the roller to hold the fiber thereto during the eriod of the plucking of the fiber from its see or from the mass. of fiber and the blast on the other side of the roller outward through its surface to clear it of the ginned fiber being functions of one and the same roller.

The invention, which consists of the application of the suction princi le to a cottongin, will be described in the etails of its em-' cotton in the hopper to the roller,-and thus assists the feed, becomes, in fact, a self-feeder, and, moreover, the suction holds to the roller a mat of cotton instead of the few fibers immediately in contact therewith. Thehold is a firm grip by .reason of the fact that fibers even of short upland cotton span across several of the fine perforations in the roller and sag a short distance into the apertures, thus' giving the apertures as the roller revolvesa positivehold on the fibers. j

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a cr'osssection of so' much of a roller-gin as is necessary to illustrate the pneumatic roller. Fig. 2 is a broken side view thereof; and Fig. 3 illustrates a double-roller gin.

A is a perforated cylinder-roller revolving around a stationary double-compartment suction and blast box B B. The cylinderroller is refer-ably formed of a cylindera,

-hav.ing t e longitudinal grooves a and the radial holes a. Surrounding this cylinder is the finely-perforated" covering ,a of sheet metal, the perforations of which are small compartment suction and blast" periphery on the opposite It will be seen that the suction draws the 1produces a suction through the ro er IIO enough to prevent the fibers from being drawn therethrough. This construction is designed to properly support the perforated covering and suction and blast to all parts therefor with as litkflle obstruction to the perforations as poss1 e.

The suction and blast box has its suction-i C shows the knife-blade, and D the recipro eating stripper of a common type of rollergini Any suitableform of knife and stripper orether device for holding back the seed and seed cotton may be used. 3

E is the hopper, and F the grating through which the 'seed'drops when clearedof fiber.

The are of the roller-surface subjected to the'action of the suction should begin at the point where the seedcotton first comes against the. roller and; extend at least the length .of the longest fibers and above and below the edge of the knife-blade, thereby making an equal suction or pressure of air into the roller above and below the coacting point of. ;the'stripper and the r0ller. The

suction-compartment of the roller is open to a ,suction;-pipe G atone end of the roller. A-teach end of the suction and blast box there is a pipeG G, one opening into thesuction side and the other into the blast side thereof, the former leading to i a vacuum-pump or mechanism for producing a suction and the other to blast mechanism. These pipes support the suction and blast box, and the outer cylinder revolves on them. The roller-cylinder, is driven by a driving-pulley attached thereto, (Not shown.)-

clean product.

mass of seed-cotton in the hopper to the roller In operation the hopperbeing filled with seed-cotton and the machine started the'cotton fibers are drawn to the roller and held thereon by the suction and carried up under the knife-blade, between which and the roller the seeds and motes cannot pass, and

on passing around to theouter face of the roller the are blown off and the roller left clean. T e knife-blade is set with respect to the roller to conform to the conditions of suction-pressure and sizeof motes and other matter to be caught, so as to give a maximum thickness of fiber 'matconsistent with The air-suction through the has the effect of steadily drawing the cotton toward the roller and makes it self-feeding, and this renders it possible to use a pair of rollers, rights and lofts, as illustrated b Fig. 3 taking cotton from a common centra hopper, Thecombined suction of the two rollers yet permit free access of the and uniform downward drawing force to the seed-cotton in the hopper and effects a steady feed without the necessity of using auxiliary devices therefor.

I do not claim as my invention means for disturbing the equilibrium of air-pressure at the pointof coaction of the stripper with'the roller. v

.What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

. '1. A cotton-gin roller having peripheral perforations, and means upon which the roller isrevolved for conducting air into and out of the roller through its perforations. 2. In a cotton-gin, the combination, with a perforated roller, and a stripper adapted to cooperate with the periphery of the roller in a ginning operation, of means for drawing an equal pressure of air into the roller above and below the co'acti'ng point of the stripper and the roller.

' 3. In a cottongin a roller having a perforated surface in combination with a pneumatic cylinder upon which the perforated roller revolves, said pneumatic cylinder having separate chambers for suction and blast respectively.

v 4. The combination, Witha hollow cottongin roller havin circumferential apertures, and a perforate roller-covering, of a pneumatic cylinder divided lengthwlse into se arate air-chambers is revolved. I

5'. The combination, with "a cotton-gin roller, having circumferential apertures, and

and upon which the ro ler a sheet of perforated material covering the roller., -of a pneumatic cylinder upon which the roller is revolubly mounted, the cylinder being divided lengthwise into separate airchambers having an opening at one end, one

of said chambers havin an'alr-suction mouth the apertures, and the other of said chambers having..,f-an' airin communication wit blast mouth in communication with the ap ertures.

6. The combination, with a cotton-gin roller having apertures, and a perforated sheet covering the roller, of a chambered aircylinder upon which the roller is revolubly mounted, a partition separating the chambers with an axial openingand a mouth in each chamber communicatlng with said apertures. 1

7. The combination, with thepne'umatic cylinder havingseparate air-chambers, the pneumatic roller having apertures in communication with the chambers, and. the perforated roller-covering, of the knife bar lo- "cated adjacent to the roller to separate the cotton-seed from the fiber and permit the latter to be drawn to and held on the roller 8. The combination, with .the roller having apertures and journal-bearing ends, and a perforated surface, of a pneumatic cylinder outward from the hopper results in a steady l upon which the roller is mounted and having I air-stems forming journals for said roller ends, a partition reaching from one stem to the other and dividing the cylinder into separate chambers which communicate with said apertures throu h openings in the chambers, and a knife-bar ocated adjacent to the roller for separating the cotton-seed from the fiber and permitting the latter to be sucked into the said perforations.

9. In a cotton-gin, the combination, with a roller, and a stripper adapted to cooperate with the periphery of the roller in a glnning operation, of means upon which the roller is revolved for permitting an equal air-pressure above and below the coacting place of the T5" STORY B. LADD.

Witnesses: ALFRED H. CowLEs,

NELLIE J. WILLS. 

